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EP U19 to tackle the Lions at NMMU

The Eastern Province U19 team will tackle the Golden Lions at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s B field on Friday, 18 July, 2014 in their second match of the ABSA U19 competition.

EP U19 Head Coach, Mzwandile Stick has made very few changes to his team, once again led by CJ Velleman, with just two players rotating and one new addition to the bench.

“Luzuko Mase is still at school at Dale, so we have released him for this game, and we have opted to bring an extra forward on the bench in Elandre van der Merwe,” said Stick.

Van der Merwe, who has recently come back from injury, has played for both the Young Guns and Despatch and Stick said he was positive that Van der Merwe would add value to the side.

The only other changes are David Murray, who replaces Thembelihle Yase up front at loosehead prop, and Julio Abels who starts in place of Thabani Mgugudo.

“This is just a straight forward rotation of players. David had been battling with a bit of a shoulder injury but is now fully fit so we have opted to let him start, while Julio has a bit of pace on him and will give support to Malcolm Jaer,” he said.

Stick said they were expecting a good game against the Golden Lions.

“Judging from how we finished against the Blue Bulls last week, the team has gained a lot more confidence and have come to believe that they are not just in the game to make up numbers,” he said.

Stick said the team had lost the game against the Blue Bulls in the first 20 minutes last week, with the team down 24 points to 0, but that the team had come back strongly once they were able to retain possession of the ball, finishing the game on 17 points to the Bulls 29.

“There has been a lot of positivity at training and the team has been working hard, so we are looking forward to the game,” he said. The game kicks off at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s B field at 17h00 and admission is free.